TEL AVIV, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Israel's Delek Group said on Sunday it acquired 13.18 percent of Faroe Petroleum PLC from Dana Petroleum Ltd for 42.77 millionpounds ($52.6 million) as part of a strategy to expand itsinternational energy activities.
Delek bought from Dana Petroleum all the Faroe shares itowned - 48.06 million shares - at 89 pence each.
Faroe is an oil and gas exploration and production companyoperating in the North Sea. Its shares traded on AIM closed at99 pence on Friday for a company valuation of 360 millionpounds.
Faroe has no controlling shareholder and upon completion ofthe acquisition Delek will be its largest single shareholder.
Faroe's portfolio includes about 60 drilling, evaluation,development and production licenses for oil and gas in the NorthSea, in Norway and the United Kingdom.
As of Jan. 1 resources stood at 61 million barrels of oilequivalent (MMBOE), and following completion of a transactionfor the acquisition of additional assets in December, provenresources are expected to increase by 20 MMBOE.
In the first half of 2016 Faroe produced 9,000 barrels ofoil equivalent per day (BOEPD), and following acquisition of theadditional assets, daily production is expected to grow to17,000-18,000 BOEPD.
"Acquisition of the Faroe shares is synergistic with andcomplements the purchase of 20 percent of the shares of Ithaca,which we did about a year ago," Delek Chief Executive OfficerAsaf Bartfeld said.
($1 = 0.8137 pounds) (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer)